Lenticular printing is a technology in which a lenticular lens is used to produce images with an illusion of depth, or the ability to change or move as the image is viewed from different angles. Lenticular printing is a multi-step process consisting of creating a lenticular image from at least two existing images and combining it with a lenticular lens. This process can be used to create various frames of animation (for a motion effect), offsetting the various layers at different increments (for a 3d effect), or simply to show a set of alternate images which may appear to transform into each other. Once the various images are collected, they are flattened into individual, different frame files, and then digitally combined into a single final file in a process called interlacing. Interlacing has slices of each image as strips which are interlaced with strips from one or more other images. From there, the interlaced image can be printed directly to the back (smooth side) of the lens or it can be printed to a substrate and laminated to the lens. When printing to the backside of the lens, registration of the fine “slices” of interlaced images must be controlled relative to the lenses during the lithographic or screen printing process or “ghosting” and poor imagery might result. When properly aligned, light reflected off each strip is refracted in a slightly different direction, but the light from all strips of a given image are sent in the same direction (parallel).
A stereoscopic effect can be produced when the lenticular lens is arranged for little change in viewing angle. In this way, each eye sees a slightly different view. This creates a 3D effect without requiring special glasses.
In order to capture the images used in a lenticular image, one or more cameras are typically moved about, and the images are taken in succession in as short an amount of time as possible. When the subject of the photo is a person or animal, for example, it is important to take the pictures in a short period of time to minimize distortion when the images are interlaced. In addition, the camera or cameras are typically mounted on a track for movement in order to capture images at a fixed position. Such movement can be both translational and rotational and varies with the distance to the subject. These systems, whether automated or manual, are costly and difficult to use and maintain.
Therefore, there is a need for improvements in systems that create interlaced images for stereoscopic presentations, and the present invention addresses that need.